• Posted: March 6, 2019
• better construction, Block Electric, Skinner West Elementary

Block Electric, of Niles IL, is proud to have been the electrical contractor responsible for a four-story addition and partial renovation for Skinner West Elementary, located in Chicagoland’s West Loop neighborhood. A multi-level wing will sit adjacent to the current structure. The project took place over the summer and is projected to reach its completion in January of 2018.

The new facility will address an overpopulation of students now enrolled at Skinner West. The increased school population has revealed there is an inadequate amount of space to hold classes; students are currently working in stand-alone manufactured trailers on campus. Fortunately, the government has approved funding for a proper facility to stand as a long-term solution relative to these temporary trailers.

Reliable union electrical workers from the IBEW local 134 apprenticeship school and the Union hall have been recruited in order to ensure that the project work is done right and that coordination between trades runs smoothly throughout the full duration of the project. Having a strong union team, on-the-ready, also ensures schedule changes are more easily managed despite any over-manning or under-manning that can happen during projects of this type. Individuals coming out of the apprenticeship program are sure to have endured the proper training to knock out competencies involving safety, code, scheduling, and experience.

The coordination of the Skinner project poses unique challenges. Much of the work must be done during the summer months when school is out of session. However, during the fall and winter it is crucial that students be able to utilize proper spaces that are built to code, given the required testing and reviews carried out seasonally at all public schools.

First and foremost, the F.H Paschen team is building up the steel frame of the adjacent building. Block Electric is coming in to add ties for electrical paths, fire alarms, and power sources that already exist in in the current structure.

Prefab construction will also be utilized so that less time will be needed on school grounds when school is in session.

Prefabrication allows more efficiency and cost savings and is a natural solution for the classroom space where teacher stations are a typical headwall format, complete with power connection, data connection, AV, and sound/speaker inputs. The teacher will have control over a desk area which can be used to relay various types of media across to students. These powered desk stations will be one of the items assembled in prefabrication for a far more efficient installation process.

Block Electric is proud to have been a part of this project, helping to provide Chicago’s West Loop with a much-needed community improvement.